


Hidden Amongst the Stars

by iam93percentstardust



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bill/Heather, Friendship, Gen, Snacks and Gas, comets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 18:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12732219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iam93percentstardust/pseuds/iam93percentstardust
Summary: Clara and Me have been stuck on a comet as the Snacks and Gas diner for months. Determined to make the best of a bad situation, they turn the diner into the best restaurant in the universe. They get all sorts of interesting customers, including a certain ex-companion and her girlfriend.





	Hidden Amongst the Stars

“Me!” Clara called. A moment later, her head poked around the console room door. “Tootles said to tell you we’re almost out of chips.”

Me didn’t bother to look up from the order form she was typing. Sighing, she said, “I don’t know how we’re supposed to get them all the way out here,” even as she added “chips” to the order form.

Clara grinned. “We live on a traveling comet, not a deserted planet. I’m sure someone will ship to us.” She nodded at the console. “Figure out what’s keeping us stuck here yet?”

Me shook her head, frowning slightly. “I think it’s just a glitch but I don’t know what’s causing it.”

The diner bell jingled and Clara groaned. She pulled her head back to look at who had come through the door. “Dinner rush starts soon. You coming out to help?”

Me echoed Clara’s groan but said, “Of course. Just need to send this off.”

Satisfied, Clara ducked behind the door. Me, already absorbed in the invoice, barely heard it snick shut. As Clara made her way to the counter, she thought back over the last few months. She and Me had been traveling for a little over a year when they’d crashed on the comet. They’d tried a few times to take off again but apparently the TARDIS was determined to stay on the comet. Clara had decided to make the best of it and had hired a short-order cook and another waitress. Within a month, Snacks and Gas had become known as the best diner in the universe. The place was constantly packed. Me had even fixed the Chameleon Circuit so they could expand the outer shell.

She fixed her brightest smile on as she spotted the two young women at the counter. There was a pretty black woman and the woman holding hands with her had to be her girlfriend. Clara didn’t care; she’d had her fair share of girlfriends over the years.

“Hi!” she said cheerfully, walking behind the counter. “What can I get for you?”

“I think we’re still looking at the menu,” the black woman said. “We’re new here.”

Clara’s smile grew bigger. Much as she loved her regulars, she loved new guests (with new stories) even more. “Take your time,” she assured them and wandered away to talk to one of the other customers. A few minutes later, she judged the two women were ready to order. Excusing herself, she slipped back behind the counter.

“Ready?” she asked.

The black woman glanced at her girlfriend, asking a silent question, and then nodded. “I’ll have the burger with everything on it and she’ll have the burger as well without tomatoes.”

“Not a fan?” Clara asked. The woman shook her head but still didn’t say anything. That was fine. Plenty of customers were tight-lipped.

She turned back to the other woman. “Anything to drink?”

“What’s the milkshake surprise?”

Clara grinned. “It’s a special technology. Tastes like how home feels. Get it shipped in special from Tiaanamat.”

“Really?” the woman asked, clearly stunned. “Guess we’ll order two of those.”

“Can do,” Clara said, writing the order down. She left to take the order back to the kitchen and then returned. “So what brings you all the way out here?”

“Heard it was the best diner in the universe. Thought we’d try it out your chips, compare them, you know.”

Clara wrinkled her nose. “Compare them? To what?”

“Mine. I used to serve chips.” Seeming to remember something, she stuck out her hand. “I’m Bill. This is Heather.”

“Clara,” she said, shaking hands.

“What made you decide to put a diner on a comet?” Bill asked.

“It didn’t used to be here,” Clara said with a slight shrug.

Bill smiled slightly but it was a confused smile. “Where did it used to be?”

Clara bit her lip and leaned forward slightly. “Everywhere,” she said, voice low. Normally, she wouldn’t have told a customer about the TARDIS but she had the strangest feeling that she could trust Bill.

“Everywhere?”

Clara hummed in agreement. “Anywhere in time and space.” She inclined her head slightly. “At least, it could until we broke down here.”

Bill seemed hung up on the first part of her statement. “Hang on. Anywhere in time and space?”

She nodded slowly, wondering what had caught Bill’s attention. “That’s what I said.”

Bill sat back on her stool, eyes wide in stunned surprise. “Thing is,” she said in a rush. “I used to know a bloke who had a machine like that, traveled with him for a while- that’s how I met Heather- and he said that he had the only one. When I left, I said I’d see him again so is he here?”

“…Is who here?” Clara said bemusedly, trying to follow Bill’s logic (and she had thought she talked in circles).

“The Doctor,” Bill said simply as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Clara reeled back, startled. She didn’t know what to say honestly. In the year she’d been on the comet, she’d never met anyone who knew who the Doctor was, let alone another companion. She took a closer look at Bill, hoping an impossible hope that the Doctor would step through the door after her.

A bell rang behind her, alerting her that Bill and Heather’s meals were ready. Still shell-shocked, she brought them out and then leaned across the counter.

“You know the Doctor?” she said quietly.

Bill nodded eagerly. “So he is here then?” she asked.

“Sorry, no,” Clara said, shaking her head slowly. “I haven’t seen him in a few years. You were a companion?”

Bill shrugged. “I guess that’s what he called me,” she replied. Comprehension dawned on her face and she took a closer look at Clara. “Wait, were you a companion?”

Clara thought back over the years that she’d traveled with the Doctor. She thought of Trenzalore and a town called Christmas, of a Soviet submarine and a city of Daleks. She thought of defeating ghosts and breaking into the most secure bank in the universe. She thought of her echoes scattered across all of time and space and then she thought of a moment at the end of the universe where a choice was made and a button was pressed.

“I suppose,” she said finally, still thinking of the Hybrid.

Bill leaned back, eyeing Clara strangely. “He never mentioned you,” she said bluntly.

“I wouldn’t expect him to,” Clara said fondly. “Does he still dress-”

“Like a magician?” Bill finished. “Yeah he does. Did he use to run like a-”

“Penguin!” Clara squealed, breaking into peals of laughter. “He did!” Bill joined her in laughter and, for a little while, the two companions giggled uncontrollably.

When they’d finally calmed down, Bill asked, “How’d you end up with the TARDIS?”

“I didn’t,” Clara said cheerfully. “This one’s all mine.” Bill’s brows furrowed and she explained, “I went to Gallifrey, stole a TARDIS, and ran away.”

“Like the Doctor?”

Clara sobered, her mind immediately returning to the prophesied Hybrid. “Yeah,” she said softly. “Like the Doctor.”

Bill seemed to understand that this was a touchy subject and she glanced at the console door, unerringly knowing where it was. “How come you’re stuck here?” she asked.

“Don’t know,” Clara said thoughtfully. “I think the TARDIS just liked it here.”

Bill was silent for a moment. Then, “Would you like me to take a look?”

Clara’s head snapped up and she peered at Bill. “What do you mean?”

“I’m pretty good with physics. Maybe I could figure out what’s wrong. The Doctor’s TARDIS always liked me. I even got to fly it once!”

Clara thought about how the TARDIS had never really liked her at all- she still vividly recalled when the TARDIS had moved her bedroom- and she wondered if maybe that was the problem, that it just didn’t like her. After all, she had been the one flying it when they’d gotten stuck here.

She threw Bill a dazzling smile. “And what? You’re going to travel with me once you fix it?” she teased.

Bill’s hand moved to cover Heather’s.

“You can come too,” Clara told Heather. Finally, Heather’s shy façade broke and she gave her a tentative smile. Looking back at Bill, Clara said, “The console’s all yours.”


End file.
